Is the DVD dead?

Michael SragowBaltimore Sun reporter

From the blog Mike Sragow Gets Reel:

Netflix's new streaming-video subscription plan (it began in Canada in September before moving south) won acclaim on Wall Street, but will its decision to increase the price of its its DVD subscriptions jolt its hard-core base of movie fans?

This one-two punch of a policy shift confirms the pioneering rental service's view that DVD-by-mail has become an antiquated way of distributing movies.

Netflix has become such an influential cultural institution that the success of its new model may shift the entire movie and home-video industry toward streaming video. How important is it for fans who've been building a DVD or Blu-ray library to have the movies in your hand -- and, in the case of high-end special releases, the editorial matter and artwork designed to enhance your experience of the movies?

I admit I'm prejudiced; I occasionally write liner notes for the Criterion Collection. My latest contribution appears in their edition of "The Night of the Hunter," which came out a week ago.